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Anyone have info on the M32K-4A?

juanprado

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Yes, There are several mfgs. Some have the old style round tail light and some have the newer style. I believe those measurements on the data plates posted is the top of the flat bed portion.
 

SLOrazorsedge

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I just picked up two of these at Barstow. I stacked the 2nd one on its wheels on the deck of the pulled trailer(cross chained down)Towed them 250 miles home w/o any issues. They will weave a bit at speeds above 55 mph or on rough Hiway like the 99 out of Bakersfield. Pulled them behind my 3/4 ton GMC. Really wouldn't even know they were there if I didn't look in the mirrors. I passed more commercial chippies than I normally see in a year and was not given a second look. A damper on the front tierod I think would fix the weave.
 

Starlight

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Hello all . Just bought one . Missing a wheel. Could use ideas on where to get one if you guys know. Also like to have the side/end rails if any contacts on that. We will use this for work but would like the rails for ralleys and parades. Thanks in advance, Capt.T Turpin/ Palm Beach Troop Support/ No Warrior Left Behind. P.S. for the guy asking how much these are going for , CHEAP. 450.00 for the one I bought.
 

Nick

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IMG_0532.jpgWas recently on a fire on Vandenburg Air Force Base. While traveling around to the coastal side of the fire and protecting some very old corrals, I saw this trailer, and came here to search it. This thread came up. Thanks for the info guys, Im gonna try to find the owner of the corrals and see if they'd be willing to sell, think this would be a cool trailer to pull behind the Power Wagon!
 

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juanprado

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View attachment 655572Was recently on a fire on Vandenburg Air Force Base. While traveling around to the coastal side of the fire and protecting some very old corrals, I saw this trailer, and came here to search it. This thread came up. Thanks for the info guys, Im gonna try to find the owner of the corrals and see if they'd be willing to sell, think this would be a cool trailer to pull behind the Power Wagon!
That is a different style of the model. It looks shorter and has bigger tires maybe 900x16 with the 2 piece m37 style rims instead of the 750x16? one piece wheels. Does it have the old round taillights? Nice find if you can have her :)
 

Nick

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Yes they are 900x16, thats what attracted me to it, same rims and tires as my Power Wagon and M101 trailer. It has two of the oval/round military rear lights on it. Im still trying to find the guy to talk to about it.
 
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calsdad

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I'm seeing some of the A/M32K-4A trailers coming up for auction on GovPlanet. I've been wanting a flatbed trailer for a while - so these look might enticing - the aluminum construction is great.

Thing is - I'd be using this in a situation where I would definitely need to back it up. I'm looking at the pics and the frame construction looks like it's a couple of nice big beams going the length of the trailer.

What I'm thinking is that if I picked one of these up - I'd pull off the military axles and install a pair of Torflex "civilian" trailer axles on the thing in a position slightly rearward of the middle - just like you see with a lot of the flatdeck equipment type trailers that are out there.

The only problem I can see - is it looks like there's some big braces under there that might be in the way. With a 6ft wide deck - would I have enough room to maybe go with slightly wider axles and push the tires outside of the deck envelope?

Even if I had to pay for axles - building an all aluminum flatbed out of one of these things might end up as a huge bargain.
[h=1][/h]
 

SLOrazorsedge

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What safe towing speed can you get out of the A/M32K-4A trailer? Would a Toyota Tacoma pull it? They look like a great trailer.
Thanks,
I have one of these trailers. They tow very “light” as much of the trailer is constructed of aluminum. A small pickup would not be a problem. FYI they are equipped with air brakes and a pintle drawbar with turntable hitch. Much like a semi trailer you can’t really back them very far before you jack knife the drawbar. They pull easily at 60-65 MPH but do wobble a bit in the lane
 

Ram1911

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What safe towing speed can you get out of the A/M32K-4A trailer? Would a Toyota Tacoma pull it? They look like a great trailer.
Thanks,
Per NAVAIR 19-25E-43, single unloaded trailers can be towed at 50 MPH on hard surfaces, 30 on rock, and 10 MPH cross country. I towed my first one back to Indy from MCAS Beaufort, SC in Jan 2017 behind my 08 Grand Cherokee CRD. Picked it up, and watched an F35B do a vertical landing while I switched out the 24v bulbs for 12v's (they take standard automotive bulbs, btw, it's cheap, but you'll need an adapter to connect directly to your vehicle). Went from Beaufort through Atlanta via Augusta, stopping in Bremen, GA for the first leg. Went through the mountains through Guntersville and Huntsville, to Evansville (folks own a farm), then home on day 3. Aired down to about 30 lbs so it wouldn't bounce so much. Had it up to 60 on the good sections of the highways. Tracks extremely true. I'm looking at putting an electric-hydraulic brake controller on it for serious towing, since it uses an air-hydraulic system as built. It's basic automotive stuff, so I don't think it will take anything special. It will carry more than my Grand Cherokee can tow (8000 lbs vs 7500 lbs) but it's not extremely heavy as stated (2500 lbs) since everything above the shackles is aluminum. That stated, I think if you intend to put anything heavy on it, you'll want to ensure you spread the load out. I found in the first section of the NAVAIR that if you stack one of these on top of another, wheels on bed, you need to put 2x12s under each wheel to spread the wheel load since it's an aluminum bed. Pardon the all-caps. This was over 20 years ago, but believe it or not, we still use this ALL CAPS USJMTF nonsense in DOD.

REF/B/MSG/MALS ELEVEN/22MAY2001// REF/C/DOC/NA19-25E-43/01JUN1997// REF/D/DOC/OPNAV 4790.2/-// NARR/REF A IS CODR. REF B IS HMR. REF C IS TRAILER MAINTENANCE MANUAL. -- [REDACTED] -- PURPOSE OF CHANGE: TO PREVENT EQUIPMENT DAMAGE PERTAINING TO ROUGH TERRAIN TRAILER OUTBOARD FRAME CRACKS ABOVE AND FORWARD OF BOTH FRONT AND REAR WHEELS. REFS A AND B APPLY.

3. INVESTIGATION OF DAMAGED TRAILERS REVEALED STACKING OF TRAILERS FOR SHIPMENT CREATES EXCESSIVE LOADS AND UNEVEN STRESS LOADS RESULTING FROM TIEDOWN METHODS USED BY TRANSPORT PERSONNEL. THE PROCEDURES CITED BELOW WILL PROVIDE SHIPPING ACTIVITIES WITH DISTRIBUTION OF STRESSES OVER A LARGER AREA OF THE TRAILER BED.

4. DETAILED INFO: A. PEN AND INK CHANGES TO TECHNICAL CONTENTS OF REF C ARE NOT AUTHORIZED. B. ANNOTATE REF C TITLE PAGE IRAC NO. 3 DTD 27 JULY 2001. C. FOR REF C, PAGE A, LIST OF EFFECTIVE PAGES ADD IRAC NO. 3 UNDER CHANGE NO. TO THE FOLLOWING WP/PAGES: TITLE PAGE, "A" PAGE, WP 003 00 PAGES 1, 3 AND 4. D. FOR REF C WP 003 00, PG 3/4 ADD: 14. FOR TRANSPORT PURPOSES, THE TRAILERS MAY BE DOUBLE STACKED IN A WHEEL TO BED CONFIGURATION. TO PREVENT POSSIBLE DAMAGE TO THE TRAILER BED SECTIONS (CRACKS IN THE WHEEL WELL CORNERS), IT IS RECOMMENDED TO PLACE WOOD BOARDS UNDER THE TOP TRAILER WHEELS. THIS WILL MINIMIZE POINT LOADS AND DISTRIBUTE THE STRESS LOADS OVER LARGER AREAS. 15. ON THE BOTTOM TRAILER REMOVE ALL THE WOODEN SIDE RACKS. OVER THE FOUR WHEEL WELLS (CUTOUTS IN THE SIDE FRAME SECTIONS), CENTER FOUR 2" X 12" X 48" LONG WOODEN BOARDS IN LINE WITH THE LONGITUDINAL EDGES OF THE TRAILER BED. 16. FROM THE SECOND TRAILER REMOVE THE DRAW BAR, ALL WOODEN SIDE RACKS AND SLIDE LOCKS. PLACE SLIDE LOCKS IN THE STOWAGE COMPARTMENT. USING PROPER LIFTING EQUIPMENT, PLACE THE SECOND OR TOP TRAILER ON THE WOOD BOARDS OF THE BOTTOM TRAILER. ENSURE THAT THE UPPER TRAILER WHEELS/AXLES ARE DIRECTLY OVER THOSE OF THE BOTTOM TRAILER. 17. POSITION FOUR 4"X4"X75" LONG WOODEN CROSS BEAMS IN THE FRONT AND BACK OF THE UPPER TRAILER WHEELS AND NAIL OR SCREW THESE TO THE LONGITUDINAL WOOD BOARDS. THESE WILL ACT AS WHEEL CHOCKS AS WELL AS PREVENT THE WOOD STRUCTURE FROM MOVING DURING TRANSPORT. 18. IN THE CENTER PORTION OF THE BOTTOM TRAILER, PLACE THE SIDE RACKS FROM BOTH TRAILERS AND THE UPPER TRAILER DRAW BAR OR BOTH, AND SECURE IN PLACE WITH METAL BANDING OR SUITABLE STRAPS. STACK THE RAILS SO THAT THEY INTERLOCK WITH EACH OTHER.THE BANDING/STRAPS SHOULD BE INSTALLED AROUND THE BOTTOM TRAILER RAILS AND TORQUE BOX. ENSURE THAT THE METAL BANDING DOES NOT TOUCH THE TRAILER METAL SURFACES NOR INTERFERE WITH THE TIRES. STORE THE DRAW BAR HINGES AND COTTER PINS
 

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Ram1911

New member
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Location
Mooresville, IN
I'm seeing some of the A/M32K-4A trailers coming up for auction on GovPlanet. I've been wanting a flatbed trailer for a while - so these look might enticing - the aluminum construction is great.

Thing is - I'd be using this in a situation where I would definitely need to back it up. I'm looking at the pics and the frame construction looks like it's a couple of nice big beams going the length of the trailer.

What I'm thinking is that if I picked one of these up - I'd pull off the military axles and install a pair of Torflex "civilian" trailer axles on the thing in a position slightly rearward of the middle - just like you see with a lot of the flatdeck equipment type trailers that are out there.

The only problem I can see - is it looks like there's some big braces under there that might be in the way. With a 6ft wide deck - would I have enough room to maybe go with slightly wider axles and push the tires outside of the deck envelope?

Even if I had to pay for axles - building an all aluminum flatbed out of one of these things might end up as a huge bargain.
[h=1][/h]
I"m not sure what you would gain by buying one of these and retrofitting it versus finding a good used civilian bumper tow cart-style trailer. It's not a traditional ladder frame, and the deck is aluminum and somewhat prone to pressure point overloading like a cargo ramp on a C-130 (et al).
 

Ram1911

New member
26
21
3
Location
Mooresville, IN
I have one of these trailers. They tow very “light” as much of the trailer is constructed of aluminum. A small pickup would not be a problem. FYI they are equipped with air brakes and a pintle drawbar with turntable hitch. Much like a semi trailer you can’t really back them very far before you jack knife the drawbar. They pull easily at 60-65 MPH but do wobble a bit in the lane
They're actually air-actuated hydraulic brakes, and one should easily, though perhaps not cheaply, be able to put an electric actuating hydraulic conversion on them. You'll want a front pintle mount on the tow vehicle if you ever need to do any serious backing, like into a barn.
 

calsdad

New member
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3
Location
Chelmsford MA
I"m not sure what you would gain by buying one of these and retrofitting it versus finding a good used civilian bumper tow cart-style trailer. It's not a traditional ladder frame, and the deck is aluminum and somewhat prone to pressure point overloading like a cargo ramp on a C-130 (et al).
Well to start with - the construction of this trailer is aluminum, and it's listed as having a load capacity of 8000 pounds. Since it's "military" - it's already overbuilt (which many of the civilian aluminum trailers are not) - plus it's construction appears to be riveted together , vs. the typical "civilian" trailers which are all welded. I have a couple of aluminum trailers myself - one of which was homebuilt in the 1970's and is still going strong - but there are also a lot of people who have had issues with *welded* aluminum trailers , because the welds can be the points where cracks start.

So the rivet construction is a plus.

My thought was that I'd buy one of these - pull off the front and rear axles - and then install a pair of Dexter Torflex (or similar) style "civilian" axles under
the frame , and then build and install a tongue so it could be towed like any other bumper pull trailer.

These m32k-4a's sell (typically) - in the $1000-$1600 range , and appear to be in very good condition. A pair of axles and tires is probably going to cost me around $1400 or so.

An 8000 pound "civilian" aluminum trailer - is going to run in the $6-$7000 range at best.

So for a little bit of work - that would get me an aluminum trailer load capable of 8K - for less than half price.


It's just an idea........... ;-)
 
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